Christa Pike -where does she stand legally?

[mids2019]

Just this really. Christ a is obviously being giving life saving treatment at hospital but where does she now stand legally. I suppose she probably has irreversible brain damage so will this not allow a second execution to take place? Is this a cruel and unusual punishment?

[Note from MNHQ - edited your title, OP]

I agree. I think they will just announce that she has died in hospital. What a terrible mess.

The Washington Post reporting that she is in a critical condition. Quotes her attorney, who was present, saying he counted 7 needles administered, one of which was bent upon removal.

Indeed. The protocol only allows for two lots of the drug to be administered - 4 syringes in total. There is no protocol beyond that.

She was unconscious. She was heard to ‘snore’ and gasping for breath. Agonal breathing can sound like snoring but it is different. It indicates a severe lack of oxygen to the brain.

Omg I did not know about agonal breathing. The whole thing is barbaric to start with but this is beyond …

I despair for the Doctors, having to administer life-saving treatment in this case.

It's a tragedy from start to finish.

Agonal breathing can sound like snoring

That would explain a lot. Let's hope she passes away rather than living with profound disabilities. (For many reasons.)

It isn’t uncommon in lethal injection executions. Pentobarbital causes the airway to collapse.

She was obviously in severe respiratory distress. Her breathing was labored and erratic at times, and she was heard to make gulping and gasping noises. She was also seen making jerking movements, which is another indicator of oxygen deprivation.

I hate to say it, because I'm totally against the DP, but if they had left her there for a while, she would probably have passed away relatively quickly anyway. She was overdosed and brain damaged I think, but had some signs of life, which as pp said was probably agonal breathing which is not life sustaining.

Obviously protocol meant she had to be transferred to a medical facility when she didn't die immediately. There, they will probably have put her on life support, and if that's the case and there's no hope of recovery, the life support will be withdrawn eventually I suppose.

To me it is barbaric and vengeful to be so determined to kill someone by appointment like that. It is one of the worst nightmarish scenarios I have come across in real time.

These are medics that are willing to put aside their ethics and their commitment to the Hippocratic oath to do so, which is already concerning.

This particular medic had to insert a central line to Pike, and said today that the last time he carried out that procedure was in 2013. Not ideal, as it indeed turned out.

She wanted to hang. Because of her medical conditions they knew that there was a chance her death wouldn't happen, or that she would linger, in agony. She felt that a botched hanging would be less traumatic. She didn't want the electric chair.
The court had all the medical information about lethal injection and it possibly failing, but still went ahead. I and lots of women's/justice groups think that she now should see out her life sentence, or hopefully die, if she has severe disabilities. It is like they have made sure she has extra punishment. There's child killers, who haven't had the death sentence, but of course they are adult men.

Sorry - I mixed this up with the other botched execution the same doctor attended. This happened with Tony Carruthers, not Christa Pike

What did Christa Pike's victim do to deserve the torture and murder, if karma is a thing?

Doctors aren’t involved, I was told today. No medical professionals are. They’re not allowed. Maybe some rogue ones might do it.

Drs aren't allowed to administer the drugs that execute prisoners.

She is now being treated at the hospital which we would assume would involve all medical staff if she is critical. And I despair for them too. This has been so highly publicised, imagine watching all the press coverage, the execution goes ahead, goes wrong and now you have to save her life from medication that has purposely been injected in to her by the state. And possibly all the people they can't treat because they are having to use there time on Christa.

This is a very humane and thoughtful contribution, thank you. I am very sorry for what happened to your daughter.

I think you are confused. It's the Doctors at the hospital that she has been taken to, that I am referring to. They are obligated to attempt to save her life following the botched execution.

That’s completely nonsensical.

They are, and were in this case. Some states legally require them to be.

Officially, they’re not supposed to be as it’s in violation of the American Medical Association code of medical ethics, but in practice they are involved. Their identities are specifically protected by state privacy statutes.

Those who are ‘ pro life’ in respect of being anti abortion are often in favour of capital punishment.

The doctors seem to avoid being struck off by the AMA by performing specific tasks in support of the execution ie siting cannulas/inserting central lines but not actually giving the lethal injection which is done by trained POs

This rather long detailed article is about Dr Mark Fowler who was involved in the last botched TN execution

Unmasked: the doctor who helps put prisoners to death

Unmasked: the doctor who helps put prisoners to death | Capital punishment | The Guardian

If America was so confident in the justice and dignity of the death penalty it would not take 30 years to execute an offender then fail in the task by dressing up death as a medical procedure. Killers brutalise their victims, killing them brutalises everybody.

Inserting the line is enough to get them sanctioned. Whether they are more involved than that doesn’t seem to be clear, so I suspect the answer to that is yes. The state doesn’t directly the medical personnel involved - they’re volunteers.

The privacy statutes are there in part to protect participating medics from AMA sanctions. Sanctions by medical boards have been subject to court action in the past - North Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that physicians cannot be punished by the medical board for participation in executions.

Apparently the same doctor botched another execution earlier this year too. Couldn’t get an IV line in. Doesn’t sound much like a doctor to me.

I know. It's concerning.

That is definitely a distinct possibility. Unfortunately in these situations, hardly anyone decides to be truthful and self-preservation kicks in. It is an all-round tragic story.